iPad for vet school

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db713

MS State CVM c/o 2017!
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I was planning on getting an iPad for school. Waiting til the newest one comes out...supposedly it will come out on march.

What apps or programs do yall find helpful? I know technically vet school doesn't start til June...but I want to be prepared!!
 
evernote: awesome for taking notes and organizing them. and you can download the version for a smartphone and computer and they'll all sync.

adobe reader: stores PDF files nicely.
 
I don't have an iPad but my bf and roomie do and they both also use Notability for their notes. They also back everything up ti either Google drive or dropbox.
 
I use iAnnotatePDF. If you get a Branchfire account (the company that makes iAnnotate), you can use it as a PDF converter right on your iPad.
I do have some friends that like Notability - the neat thing about that app is that you can use the iPen with it.
 
Notability is awesome, it is the main app I use.

I store my notes on my Dropbox, and use the Dropbox app to access PDF books.

I also use my Google Drive app.
 
There's some discussion of organization apps on this thread on the end of page 4 and all of page 5 if you wanted some more input:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=798986&page=4

I love using studyblue. I make flashcards on my laptop on their website. It then syncs with my ipad and phone and I can study my flashcards on the go. You can sort them into ones you go wrong and right. At the end it will tell you the percent you got right and then you can study the wrong ones or all of them.
I also love using the google calendar app to keep my head on straight! Again, I can enter appointments/class schedules ect on my laptop, ipad, or phone and they all sync together. Now I always know when I have to be somewhere and if I'm free at such and such time when someone asks.

DVM360 is a good magazine app for vets. Good to keep up on some current issues

Kindle app is also a good one if you like to read! You can buy (or choose free ones) from the amazon store to read on it. If you have a kindle already you can sync all the books you bought already to your ipad
 
Thank you guys!!!!
 
Just bought the notability app.. Gonna test it out. Gonna look up annotate as well!

Keep Em coming guys, I love my iPad 🙂 😍
 
I love Notability and Evernote. Dropbox is essential.

You should also download a printing app if you have a wireless printer, I got the Hp one.

Also, spring for Keynote if you can. You can upload and save PowerPoints to it, and create your own if you need to.

Disclaimer: not in vet school, but I used these almost daily in undergrad. I could see them being really helpful.
 
I got a tablet for vet school and I hardly ever use it in class. The one thing that I really like about it is having studyblue. It's great and I can make flashcards on my regular laptop and then study them at school with studyblue on my tablet. I rarely use my tablet to look at powerpoints or take notes in class. I've seen some 4th years that have all their powerpoints saved from school so they can access them while in clinics, but for me, I can't study on the computer, so I just stick with taking notes in my notes packet. Most common use for my tablet is checking to see if grades are up yet and to check facebook.
 
db713 said:
supposedly it will come out on march.
Click to expand...

Out of curiosity, where did you hear this? Everything I found indicated that the next possible release should be closer to September/October. The "MacRumors" website is pretty good at predicting new Apple releases. I like to obsess because the last two Apple products that I coughed up for, I bought right at the end of their "cycles" without knowing it. 😡
Anyway, I'm definitely going to go the iPad route for vet school. My clunky old laptop is on its last legs!
 
db713 said:
I was planning on getting an iPad for school. Waiting til the newest one comes out...supposedly it will come out on march.
\!!
Click to expand...

why bother waiting for the newest one... changes are mostly incremental.
The only advantage I can see is buying the older model at a discount.
 
Last year like 3 people in my class had them. September...probably 30% of the class had them, after Christmas....probably about 75% have them. It's sort of creepy to walk into a classroom and everyone's face is glowing.

I got a free samsung one with my phone...so I'm just gonna stick with that and my pen and paper😉

But they are a pretty great investment if you are just starting out vet school for sure. I imagine mine will come in handy in clinics too.
 
My cousin is about to finish vet school. She bought a laptop but she wishes that she had an iPad instead.

I'm not sure if it has to be an iPad or if any tablet would do the trick.
 
Jas1360 said:
My cousin is about to finish vet school. She bought a laptop but she wishes that she had an iPad instead.

I'm not sure if it has to be an iPad or if any tablet would do the trick.
Click to expand...

Still recommend having a laptop. Mine is currently airing out because I spilled water on it and im struggling a good bit. It sucks to type on a tablet and has no where near the storage capacity. I do like it for taking notes on, but multitasking is a PITA even with my tablet allowing me to have multiple windows open at the same time.

And I think any tablet would work. I dont use an ipad and get by just fine.
 
Last edited:
Jas1360 said:
My cousin is about to finish vet school. She bought a laptop but she wishes that she had an iPad instead.

I'm not sure if it has to be an iPad or if any tablet would do the trick.
Click to expand...

I had a tablet and just wish I had bought a laptop instead. 😛
To each their own.
 
orca2011 said:
Still recommend having a laptop. Mine is currently airing out because I spilled water on it and im struggling a good bit. It sucks to type on a tablet and has no where near the storage capacity. I do like it for taking notes on, but multitasking is a PITA even with my tablet allowing me to have multiple windows open at the same time.

And I think any tablet would work. I dont use an ipad and get by just fine.
Click to expand...

I do not use my ipad as a storage device for notes after the class ends, but it wouldn't be horrible if I did because for the most part, PDF versions of notes are much much smaller files than power points (the only exception I've found so far has been radiology). I have my notes backed up on my computer (updated daily) AND an external hard drive (updated monthly). I kind of like the fact that it is hard to multitask because switching from notes to Facebook is really noticeable and deters me from going back and forth a lot during class. If I had a laptop, I know I would be much worse about it 😛

Ultimately I use both my laptop and my ipad fairly equally, and I love that I don't have to drag my laptop to class as mine is a few years old, would have to be plugged in constantly, and is much heavier than the ipad.
 
I love using my ipad for school. I used to bring my laptop, paper notes, and pens. Now my bag is much lighter to carry and Notability syncs everything up to my dropbox or google drive. I don't have to worry about transferring things to my laptop or losing my notes. It's also nice to review my notes on the bus with a tablet since it's so lightweight. 🙂
 
For tablets that didn't come with a stylus - did you go out and buy a generic one? How is it with resting your hand when you write? This is one thing that I'm not sure about with iPads. If you just type on it, let me know. 🙂
 
Escalla said:
For tablets that didn't come with a stylus - did you go out and buy a generic one? How is it with resting your hand when you write? This is one thing that I'm not sure about with iPads. If you just type on it, let me know. 🙂
Click to expand...

I did buy one for the iPad, but I don't do an excessive amount of writing with it. I type the vast majority of the notes I take, and use the stylus for highlighting, drawing arrows to things, circling, starring, etc. that you can do with your finger, but I spent the money on the darn thing, so I might as well use it.
 
I like doing both writing and typing so a good stylus is worthwhile in my situation. I bought a cheap pack of styluses and immediately regretted it upon using them. I'd recommend buying a nice one. Go on amazon and read reviews. You can find a cheap one that is well rated I'm sure. 🙂
 
Escalla said:
For tablets that didn't come with a stylus - did you go out and buy a generic one? How is it with resting your hand when you write? This is one thing that I'm not sure about with iPads. If you just type on it, let me know. 🙂
Click to expand...

I bought a $15 one. And there is a button in the notability program that you press which locks the screen so you can rest your hand without it doing anything. 👍
 
bigkittinteef said:
I like doing both writing and typing so a good stylus is worthwhile in my situation. I bought a cheap pack of styluses and immediately regretted it upon using them. I'd recommend buying a nice one. Go on amazon and read reviews. You can find a cheap one that is well rated I'm sure. 🙂
Click to expand...

I recommend the Bamboo brand stylus. It was about $30, if I remember correctly - so not super cheap, but pretty reasonable. It's weighted nicely, and you can buy replacement rubber tips through the manufacturer (wacom.com).
 
I just checked out the Microsoft surface pro in best buy over the weekend. I went in very skeptical of the thing but came out absolutely loving it. it's basically the combination of everything you guys are talking about, a tablet with the power and OS of a full computer. Apparently the pen is pressure sensitive and it seemed to write really well. I played around with the keyboard covers and the "type" version blew me away. Definitely did not like the "touch" version AT ALL where the keys don't move. Some drawbacks I've read about though is the battery life. I think it's only getting 4-5 hours.

Anyway, thought I'd throw it out there since it wasn't mentioned yet.
 
I'm going to watch this thread pretty closely, because my laptop is on its last life and I'm trying to decide what I'm going to buy to replace it. I really like the idea of taking notes with a stylus on an iPad, because I remember things better by actually handwriting them out, but I'm a neat freak and love how having everything on the iPad would cut down on clutter in my backpack.
 
gumtree said:
I'm going to watch this thread pretty closely, because my laptop is on its last life and I'm trying to decide what I'm going to buy to replace it. I really like the idea of taking notes with a stylus on an iPad, because I remember things better by actually handwriting them out, but I'm a neat freak and love how having everything on the iPad would cut down on clutter in my backpack.
Click to expand...

I really like the idea of taking notes and marking up powerpoints on an iPad as well! I'm not sure I could be without a fully functioning computer though. A tablet for me would be purely supplemental.
 
Escalla said:
I really like the idea of taking notes and marking up powerpoints on an iPad as well! I'm not sure I could be without a fully functioning computer though. A tablet for me would be purely supplemental.
Click to expand...

As much as I love my iPad, I could not use it in place of my laptop. I may actually use my ipad more now, but there are some things that laptops are just better at such as typing papers, certain programs that won't be available on ipad, or more storage space in general.
 
Stb1473 said:
As much as I love my iPad, I could not use it in place of my laptop. I may actually use my ipad more now, but there are some things that laptops are just better at such as typing papers, certain programs that won't be available on ipad, or more storage space in general.
Click to expand...

Totally agree. 👍

Does anyone use their tablet in anatomy? I was thinking it might be neat to have if you had the dissection guide on there (which I'm not sure if you can get or not...) and had a well sealed case that was easy to clean. My book always got really nasty when I took a vertebrate zoology course. More so with the dogfish shark than the cat though, I suppose.
 
Escalla said:
Totally agree. 👍

Does anyone use their tablet in anatomy? I was thinking it might be neat to have if you had the dissection guide on there (which I'm not sure if you can get or not...) and had a well sealed case that was easy to clean. My book always got really nasty when I took a vertebrate zoology course. More so with the dogfish shark than the cat though, I suppose.
Click to expand...

I haven't done this but it's definitely something you can probably do. You can get the dissection gudie online for free (I'm assuming every school uses the same one)so that won't be the issue. I would just wonder if the stylus would work through thicker plastic...although I would think it would since mine works with a screen protector on. And for a protective covering I would just use one of those clear paper covers or a gallon plastic bag. They're nice for studying too because you can put a picture of a skeleton in them and then draw muscle origins and insertions on them with eraseable markers.


Also, you could just print the dissection pages you need and bring those to lab and leave your book at home.
 
orca2011 said:
I haven't done this but it's definitely something you can probably do. You can get the dissection gudie online for free (I'm assuming every school uses the same one)so that won't be the issue. I would just wonder if the stylus would work through thicker plastic...although I would think it would since mine works with a screen protector on. And for a protective covering I would just use one of those clear paper covers or a gallon plastic bag. They're nice for studying too because you can put a picture of a skeleton in them and then draw muscle origins and insertions on them with eraseable markers.


Also, you could just print the dissection pages you need and bring those to lab and leave your book at home.
Click to expand...

Awesome! 😀 Thanks orca! I tried to photocopy some pages from by book back then and it just wouldn't come out right. These options definitely make life easier. 👍
 
Not sure what schools you all are going to but I know at purdue, auburn, and kansas (auburns might be starting this year) they require and include a tablet/laptop hybrid through the school with first year expenses. So before you buy anything not through the school double check because these things there making us buy are pretty expensive, not sure which one but one was like 2200 but included 4 years of tech support/replacement if severely damaged.
 
Escalla said:
Totally agree. 👍

Does anyone use their tablet in anatomy? I was thinking it might be neat to have if you had the dissection guide on there (which I'm not sure if you can get or not...) and had a well sealed case that was easy to clean. My book always got really nasty when I took a vertebrate zoology course. More so with the dogfish shark than the cat though, I suppose.
Click to expand...

My year some people brought their laptops in (uncovered) to study. They kept the computer nearby out of "juice" range.

I tried it once, but was too unwieldy for me.
 
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